Improving Quality Assurance in European Vocational Education and Training: Factors Influencing the Use of Quality Assurance Findings PDF
Preview Improving Quality Assurance in European Vocational Education and Training: Factors Influencing the Use of Quality Assurance Findings
Improving Quality Assurance in European Vocational Education and Training Adrie J. Visscher Editor Improving Quality Assurance in European Vocational Education and Training Factors Influencing the Use of Quality Assurance Findings 123 Editor Dr.AdrieJ.Visscher TwenteUniversity Fac.BehaviouralSciences DepartmentofEducational OrganisationandManagement 7500AEEnschede TheNetherlands [email protected] ISBN 978-1-4020-9526-9 e-ISBN 978-1-4020-9527-6 DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-9527-6 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2008940857 (cid:2)c SpringerScience+BusinessMediaB.V.2009 Nopartofthisworkmaybereproduced,storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,microfilming,recording orotherwise,withoutwrittenpermissionfromthePublisher,withtheexception ofanymaterialsuppliedspecificallyforthepurposeofbeingentered andexecutedonacomputersystem,forexclusiveusebythepurchaserofthework. Printedonacid-freepaper 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 springer.com Contents 1 IntroductiontotheProblemoftheUnder-UtilisationofQuality AssuranceData,andtheResearchApproach...................... 1 AdrieJ.Visscher 2 ATheoreticalFrameworkforAnalysingtheImplementationand EffectsofQualityAssuranceSystemsinEuropeanVET ............ 7 AdrieJ.Visscher 3 FactorsInfluencingtheUseofQualityAssuranceDatainDutch (I)VETfortheHealthCareSector ............................... 33 MariaHendriksandAdrieVisscher 4 FactorsInfluencingtheUseofQualityAssuranceDatainEnglish (I)VETfortheHealthCareSector ............................... 51 DavidPepper 5 FactorsInfluencingtheUseofQualityAssuranceDatainDanish VETfortheHealthCareSector.................................. 71 JørgenOleLarsenandOleDibbernAndersen 6 FactorsInfluencingtheUseofQualityAssuranceDatainEstonian (I)VETfortheHealthCareSector ............................... 91 EevaKesku¨laandKristaLoogma 7 FactorsInfluencingtheUseofQualityAssuranceDatainItalian (I)VETfortheHealthCareSector ...............................109 GiorgioAllulliandIsmeneTramontano 8 FactorsInfluencingtheUseofQualityAssuranceDatainGerman (I)VETfortheHealthCareSector ...............................125 LarsHeinemannandLudgerDeitmer v vi Contents 9 TheFactorsthatMatterforQualityAssuranceAcrossSixCountries.145 AdrieJ.Visscherand MariaHendriks 10 GuidelinesfortheQualityAssuranceofVocationalEducationand TraininginEUCountries .......................................171 AdrieJ.Visscher,MariaHendriks,OleDibbernAndersen,Ludger Deitmer,LarsHeinemann,EevaKesku¨la,JørgenOleLarsen, DavidPepperandIsmeneTramontano AuthorIndex ......................................................177 SubjectIndex ......................................................179 Contributors Giorgio Allulli Instituto per lo Sviluppo della Formazione Professionale dei Lavoratori(ISFOL),ViaGiambattistaMorgagni33,00161Rome,Italy, [email protected] Ole Dibbern Andersen Danmarks Erhverspaedagogiske Laereruddannelse (DELUD)Rosenø´rnsAlle´ 31,1970FrederiksbergC,Denmark, [email protected] Ludger Deitmer ITB – Institut Technik und Bildung, Universita¨t Bremen, Am Fallturm1,28359Bremen,Germany,[email protected] Lars Heinemann ITB – Institut Technik und Bildung, Universita¨t Bremen, Am Fallturm1,28359Bremen,Germany,[email protected] Maria Hendriks University of Twente, Faculty of Behavioural Sciences, De- partment of Educational Organisation and Management, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede,TheNetherlands,[email protected] EevaKesku¨la UniversityofTallinn,InstituteofEducationalResearch,Uus-Sadama 5,10120Talinn,Estonia,[email protected] JørgenOleLarsen DanmarksErhverspaedagogiskeLaereruddannelse(DELUD), Rosenø´rnsAlle´ 31,1970FrederiksbergC,Denmark,[email protected] Krista Loogma University of Tallinn, Institute of Educational Research, Uus- Sadama5,10120Talinn,Estonia,[email protected] David Pepper Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, England, Picadilly 83, W1J8QALondon,UnitedKingdom,[email protected] IsmeneTramontano InstitutoperloSviluppodellaFormazioneProfessionaledei Lavoratori(ISFOL),ViaGiambattistaMorgagni33,00161Rome,Italy, [email protected] AdrieJ.Visscher DepartmentofEducationalOrganisationandManagement, FacultyofBehaviouralSciences,UniversityofTwente,7500AEEnschede, TheNetherlands,[email protected] vii Chapter 1 Introduction to the Problem of the Under-Utilisation of Quality Assurance Data, and the Research Approach AdrieJ.Visscher 1.1 Introduction The Technical Working Group “Quality in Vocational Education and Training” of theEuropeanCommissionhasdevelopedaCommonQualityAssuranceFramework (CQAF) for Vocational Education and Training (VET) aimed at supporting VET providers in the development, evaluation and improvement of Quality Assurance systemsandpracticesthroughoutEurope(TechnicalWorkingGrouponQualityin VET,Thessaloniki2003). TheQualityAssurancemodelpresentedintheCQAFincludesfourphases: 1. planning(settinggoals); 2. implementation(ofactionstoachievethegoalsset); 3. evaluation and assessment (evaluation of programme provision by objectives, andassessingtheachievedoutcomes); 4. review, e.g. the discussion of the results of quality assessments among end- users,detectingcausesofunderperformance,andtranslatingtheconclusionsinto improvementactions. The resemblance between this Quality Assurance model and the well-known PDCA (plan, do, check, act) cycle as developed by Deming (1982) which was meanttosupportcontinuousqualityimprovementwithincompaniesisclear.Inboth approachesgoalsaresetandanattemptismadetoaccomplishthemaswellaspos- sible, the results are studied, and based on that an attempt is made to achieve the goalsevenbetter. TheTechnicalWorkingGroupstressesthatthefirstthreephasesareonlyofvalue ifphasefouristhereaftercarriedoutsuccessfully.Inotherwords,thereislittlevalue B A.J.Visscher( ) Department of Educational Organisation and Management, Faculty of Behavioural Sciences, UniversityofTwente,TheNetherlands e-mail:[email protected] A.J.Visscher(ed.),ImprovingQualityAssuranceinEuropeanVocational 1 EducationandTraining,DOI10.1007/978-1-4020-9527-6 1, (cid:2)C SpringerScience+BusinessMediaB.V.2009 2 A.J.Visscher insettingtargets,andmeasuringtowhatextentthesetargetshavebeenmetaftera certain period of time, if the results of these assessments are not used (much) for performanceimprovement. AccordingtotheTechnicalWorkingGroupthereviewphase,despiteitscrucial importance,isoftentheweakestphase.Ourobservationsareinlinewiththisstate- ment. Much energy and financial resources are being invested in the development and introduction of Quality Assurance Systems into VET institutions whereas the impactoftheQualityAssurancedataistoolimited.Itprovestobefarfromeasyfor VETproviderstafftotransformcollectedQualityAssurancedataintoimprovement- orientedactivities.Toooftenevaluationsbecomeempty,legitimisingritesinsteadof abasisfororganisationallearningandviabletransformationandimprovementofthe system.Thus,inmanycasesthegoalofimprovingthequalityofVETisnotrealised; performance feedback is under-utilised, goals are not fine-tuned and no strategies aredesignedtobetteraccomplishthegoalsset.Thisconclusionisinlinewithsev- eral other studies (Weiss 1998; Visscher and Coe 2002) which show that in many organisationsvaluableevaluativeinformationisnotused,oronlytoasmalldegree. Weiss(1998),basedonherlongexperiencewithresearchintothe(under-)utili- sationofevaluationoutcomesconcludesthatweareinclinedtothinkthatnewvalu- able information is a sufficient precondition for triggering improvement-oriented behavior.Forexample,inthecaseofQualityAssuranceourassumptionisusually that practitioners as a result of Quality Assurance activities obtain information on theirownandoninstitutionalfunctioningwhichtheydidnothavebefore,andwhich is valuable for them. Therefore, it is expected that this information will be a basis forimprovingperformance.Thisassumptionprovestobena¨ıve. AccordingtoWeissnew,relevantinformationisavaluablebutinsufficientpre- condition for triggering improvement-oriented behaviour. A strong motivation to improveperformanceisalsoimportant,likewisesocialsupport(e.g.fromtheboss andfromothercolleagues),andadditionalresources,astheutilisationoffindingsis somethingthatneedstobedoneinadditiontoregulartasksandthereforeasksfor extratimeandotherresources.Weissalsopointstoanumberofwaysinwhichthe utilisationofdatacanbeobstructed: (cid:129) evaluationresultsmaynotbedisseminatedamongthetargetgroup; (cid:129) usersmaynotunderstand,orbelievethese; (cid:129) theymayhavenoideaofhowtheresultscanbechanged; (cid:129) and/orlacktheskills,competencesforutilisingtheevaluationfindings; (cid:129) therequiredchangesmaybetoocontroversialtoaccomplishthem. Thistypeofexperienceandinsightisvaluablewhenanalysinghowandwhythe utilisationofQualityAssurancedatainEuropeanVETbreaksdownasitcancon- tributetotheidentificationofthecriticalsuccessfactorsforimprovingtheutilisation ofQualityAssurancedata. Our goal was to identify how VET providers can meet the requirements of the CommonQualityAssuranceFrameworkbypromotingthesuccessfulexecutionof thereviewstage.ThefocusareawasQualityAssuranceattheleveloftheEuropean 1 IntroductiontotheProblemandApproach 3 providersoftheinitialVET(IVET)forthehealthcaresector.Therapidandnumer- ablechangesinthissectorincombinationwiththeincreasedaccountabilityandper- formancerequirementsmakeQualityAssuranceinthissectordifficultbutalsovery important.About30European(I)Vetproviderswereanalysedintermsofhowthey workonQualityAssurance,towhatextenttheynotonlycollectQualityAssurance data but also process these, and transform the findings into actions and measures to improve performance. An attempt was made to explain the variance in Quality Assurance success by means of a theoretical framework which includes potential explanatory factors (e.g. features of the Quality Assurance system, features of the process of implementing theQualityAssurance systemintothe(I)VETproviders, andcharacteristicsoftheschoolorganisation). Thereisrelativelylittlesystematicknowledgeonthecriticalsuccessfactorsforthe reviewstageinVET.ThechallengeofthisEU-fundedLeonardodaVinciproject(for moreinformationontheproject:seewww.revimp.org)wasthereforetoacquiremore knowledgeonthistopic,andtotranslatethefindingsintoguidelinesforthereview stagewhilstensuringthattheguidelinesmatchwellwiththepracticeofEuropean VET,andcanbeusedfortrainingVETprovidersregardingQualityAssurance. 1.2 Strategy TheapproachforgaininginsightintotheconditionsunderwhichQualityAssurance leadstosuccessfulreviewasabasisfordevelopingguidelinesforsuccessfulreview, includedthefollowingactivities. First, possible critical success factors for the review phase were obtained from a review of the literature on innovations which are similar to the introduction of Quality Assurance systems into VET. This led to the construction of a theoretical framework (which is presented in Chapter 2) which includes the potential critical successfactorsandtheirrelationships. The theoretical framework was used for developing draft interview question- naires which were pilot tested in all six project countries. Based on the findings ofthepilottesttheinstrumentsfordatacollectionwereadaptedandthetheoretical framework was also modified to some extent (e.g. some variables proved to be of lessrelevancethanexpectedandafewotherrelevantonesweremissing).Formore detailsseeChapter2. Next, the Quality Assurance practices of 30 IVET providers in six countries (fivecasestudiespercountry:England,Estonia,Germany,Italy,Denmark,andthe Netherlands)werestudiedonthebasisofthetheoreticalframework.Thiswasdone by means of interviews with school staff in the IVET providers. The aim was to analyseunderwhichconditionsthereviewstageisorganisedsuccessfully:whendo IVETproviderstransformQualityAssurancedataintoactionstoimproveIVET? On the basis of the data collected in the 6 European countries, a comparative transnationalanalysiswascarriedout,onthebasisofwhichadraftsetofguidelines wasdrawnupforexecutingthereviewstage,forIVETprovidersforthehealthcare sector.
The list of books you might like
